Daniel "mrgr33n13" Colman has been on a tear thus far in 2013. He won over $300,000 in heads up sit and gos in January and continues to play at the highest levels of heads up sngs, against the best opponents. His goal is to make 1.25 million dollars and finish with at least 5 million VPPs on PokerStars this year. You can follow his challenge thread here, where he is candidly answering community questions as well.
HUSNG: When did you start playing heads up sit and gos?
DC: My first heads up sng I played was probably when I was 14. I would deposit money on sportsbetting websites and when I didnt have action on a sports game, I often found myself drawn to the poker room and finding a heads up sng match. I did this from around age 14-17. Eventually in 2007, I took time to start playing them seriously. I got coaching and staking from livb112, but I think the biggest thing that helped me improve was my ambition. There was never anyone who I didnt want to play. If someone was better then me, I wanted to play them until I could beat them. I didnt care for playing fish, I knew I could beat them. I wanted to play the people that I was unsure if I could beat them or not. This obviously hurt my profitability, but I dont think I could exist in poker without challenging myself in that way.
HUSNG: So that is why you enjoy playing regs. Why have you been so profitable against them?
DC: Yes, I've always enjoyed playing regs just because it gives you action and its a bit of a challenge. Some of these regs have made most of their profit playing against recreational players. I feel their ranges have suffered because of that which leads them to be unbalanced in a lot of different spots.
HUSNG: What do you think about edge in hypers, lots of people seem to think there's no edge when regs play each other, but players like you, serkules, skaiwalkurrr and plenty of others seem to defy that. What do you think about or what do you have to say to a $200 regular that says there's no edge in regs facing each other?
DC: I think for sure there is an edge to be had vs anyone. A strategy exists that can beat the very best player right now at a fairly high winrate before rake. For your long term survival in this game, it will be neccessary to work towards finding out that strategy.
HUSNG: How do you decide on whether or not to play someone? What happens if someone you don't want to play sits you in 1ks and won't stop sitting you?
DC: The people I do not sit or get sat by, is either out of friendship or sharing lobbys being mutually beneficial to each other.
If someone I dont want to play sits me and wont stop sitting me, I guess that means I will have to try and work hard to improve until that will no longer be the case.
HUSNG: Are you a believer/participant in a sort of "cartel" of players that discourages new regs from moving up and sitting high stakes games?
DC: No comment.
HUSNG: What's the trait that helps you most in husngs?
DC: I think its my passion. I dont think any of the other regs enjoy it as much as I do. As much as playing against recreational players is enjoyable, it can be a pretty montonous grind. It is important for me to always challenge myself and play against very tough opponents to keep me thinking about the game in new ways and always working to improve. The last thing I would ever want to happen is plateau.
HUSNG: Who are the top 5 hyper players today?
DC: In no particular order; skaiwalkurrr, helio, lotte lenya, serkules, fisfarfar, piggy, jossel, killuifiplay, harthor, me
HUSNG: Do you play any other formats? What do you like about them?
DC: Yes, heads up cash and turbo and non turbo heads up sngs. 4-6 tabling someone in each of those is definitely my favorite way to play poker. It just feels so pure, the way poker was meant to be played.
HUSNG: Ever watch any poker videos?
DC: I think I watched some cardrunners videos when first getting into playing online tournaments.
HUSNG: Do you bet sports of play casino games at all?
DC: Very rarely and never for an amount that it could sting to lose.
HUSNG: Any fun poker or gambling related stories to share?
DC: I made a basketball propbet with a poker player (not going to name names) where I got laid 3:2 odds. It was best of 7, 1 on 1, each game up to 11. It was my 25k to win 37.5k. The game was to be played in Vegas at UNLV rec center at 2pm. This was at the start of the WSOP, but I wasnt 21 yet so I was still at home in Boston. Instead of flying out to Vegas a day before and resting up, I picked the cheapest flight that left Boston at 6 in the morning, had a layover in charlotte N.C. , and arrived in Vegas at 1:15. By the time I got to the UNLV rec center I felt like complete shit, but I still managed to win the bet and go on to win another 7.5k playing HORSE.
HUSNG: Thank you for your time and best of luck on your lofty goals this year.
Nucking Futs !
I like the 'Cartel" question, shame there wasnt a fuller answer... or maybe the answer just said it all !?
Go forth and CRUSH !
Haha, yea, his answer says plenty lol.
Let's suppose the cartel did exist.
In theory, how would that work exactly?
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My guess would be all the regs in the cartel sit the new guy trying to move up non-stop until he has to move back down.
Hope this isn't the case but I can see how discouraging new regs keeps more money for the current regs.
I think it's actually a pretty good system, would be nicer if it happened in the $100-300s more often though.
I remember it happening in the past, like 2008-2010 a little, but not too organized and never long lasting.
Is 1.25 million much of a challenge given that he is already up some 500K in the first two months of the year? I think 2 million sounds more like a challenge.
Given that the best ever was 900k over a full year, I think it is a pretty big challenge.
I'm not sure anyone has made 700k in 9 months in hypers before, though maybe Serk or Skai did (certainly not 800k).
It's quite a daunting task in my mind, even if his EV is disgusting good so far. The drives, the focus, the pressure of it all, it's not easy for anyone in my mind.